


The Light Inside

by ShutUpandPull



Category: Caskett - Fandom, Castle
Genre: F/M, pre-Caskett, prompt, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 19:25:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3821995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShutUpandPull/pseuds/ShutUpandPull
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beckett suggests she and Castle should be each other's plus-one at Ryan and Jenny's wedding, and something unexpected happens inside the photo booth once Castle convinces her to join him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Light Inside

**Author's Note:**

> I found this prompt the other night and thought it was a really sweet idea. Thanks to the anonymous soul who provided the inspiration.

Castle leaned on his elbows back against the bar, his now jacketless body free from the restriction of heavy fabric and fasteners, yet held captive still by the vision that was Kate Beckett, who sat in wait across the reveler-filled dance floor. The pop of a liberated cork echoed behind him - the unmistakable sound of celebration - and his eyelids squeezed quickly shut in reflex, the only time he’d taken his eyes off her all afternoon long.

A moment later, at the bartender’s tap on his shoulder, Castle pushed away from the polished mahogany and turned to retrieve the glasses he was sent for - sent for by Kate, his impromptu, unexpected, he-so-owed-one-to-Alexis plus-one for the day’s festivities. And it was entirely _her_ suggestion, the woman who ran away and hid all summer long, the woman who lived behind a wall of heartache and fear, the woman who, despite those and other not-inconsequential obstacles, held every bit of his heart and mind at every moment of every day.

He plucked a bill from his pocket and dropped it into the bartender’s basket without scrutiny, the hundred he left behind, however unintended, well worth the view the wait for their champagne afforded him. There he stood - a minute, maybe five - motionless, glasses of cheerful bubbles in hand, and he watched her. He wondered if she realized how often he did that, actually, how he couldn’t help himself, how she’d become his beacon, calm or storm. She radiated - not one thing, one word, one noun. She radiated _Kate,_ perfectly unique in its manifestation. Even his world-famous writer mind failed time and again to quantify it fully, despite the tens of thousands of words in his vast lexicon.

Kate’s eyes were fixed on Ryan and Jenny as they wandered a serpentine path around and through tables of guests, their hands ever-joined, the joy of their new union palpable. Castle set his feet in motion at last and began his journey back across the dance floor towards her, her soft, sentimental smile contagious in its modesty, her reverie one he most wanted to explore. Nearly there, he excused himself with a friendly chuckle as he bumped into an energetic gentleman mid-twirl with his foxtrot companion, then tiptoed his way back to their table, his hand coated in spilled champagne from the graceless encounter.

“Seems I have two left feet even when I’m not dancing,” he told Kate as he set the glasses down and dropped into his chair next to her. “Can’t take me anywhere.” He dabbed at his damp skin with a cloth napkin as he silently cursed his own clumsiness. “What’d I miss?”

He hadn’t missed a moment, of course. She was all he’d seen - all he wanted to see.

“You mean besides the day they taught walking in school, Castle?” She couldn’t help but laugh.

“You caught that, huh?”

“I’m a cop, Castle. Catching things is what I do,” she said through a grin that hadn’t yet subsided.

He loved her like this - away from the sharp temper of the city, unburdened by the metal she wore as a shield against more than just her lawless foes. She carried light with her, light he knew well was within but that she kept dimmed beneath a pledge made long ago.

“Ooo, maybe Nikki should drop that line in the next book. That’s pretty good.” He tossed the napkin aside, the stick of the liquid already hopelessly set in along the lines of his palm. “Wanna switch jobs?”

Kate leaned forward in her chair, seemingly intrigued by the offer, wanting to hear more. “And would I get to follow _you_ around every day like a lost duckling? Stick my nose into all of _your_ business and endlessly frustrate _you_?”

She wanted him to back down, to let her win that round as he so often did, but he couldn’t - not when the scent of her so near filled his space and ignited his senses, not when that one wave of hair clung to her shoulder like it knew it could never find a better place to fall, not in this room on this night under these circumstances.

He pushed in towards her as she had him, her position held firm. “I get the feeling, Detective, that you’re under the mistaken impression I’d see that as some kind of a threat. An undesirable outcome.” His voice was smooth and deliberate, unwavering. “I can assure you the very contrary is true. You, with me every day, in all of my—business?” His eyes traveled down her slowly then back up. “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more desirable offer, actually. And, don’t forget, I was once asked to write the Bond series.”

Kate pursed her lips and released a soft hum. That definitely backfired.

“Come on, dance with me, Mr. Left Feet.”

Yes, a distraction.

He inched his chair backward and practically jumped out of it, extended his somewhat gummy hand for hers. “Just out of curiosity, how’s the NYPD’s insurance plan, you know, just in case.”

She grinned as she took his hand and tugged him towards the dance floor. “Just follow my lead, Castle, and we’ll be fine.”

He always did.

**xxxx**

Four songs later, including one Castle hoped no one had a video camera trained on him for, they retreated for a break, their table empty of guests, plated cake awaiting their return. “Oh, this is the very best part of weddings,” he exclaimed with the excitement of a child.

Kate turned to him with raised brow. “The best, huh, Castle? Better than the cherish and love forever part?” She gripped the back of her chair, her expression practically demanding a response.

“Uh - well, that whole forever part hasn’t really worked out all that well for me. But, cake - cake and I have always loved one another.”

Kate just shook her head. More useless insight. She honestly wasn’t all that surprised.

“Well, before cake I think I’m going to sneak off to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”

“You know, I think I’ll go with you, if you don’t mind. Might be a good time while everyone’s cutting a rug.”

Kate walked on with Castle closely in tow. “Imagine that, Castle, you following me somewhere.”

“Oh, you love it and you know it,” he responded without missing a beat. She smiled, but he couldn’t see.

They wandered out the double doors at the opposite side of the room from where they’d come in, uncertain as to where they’d end up or which direction they needed to go. Out in the hallway, just to their right, was a large photo booth, one similar to something one would find buried in a mall somewhere.

“Hey, this is one of those photo things.” Castle stopped dead in his tracks with giddy delight. “I totally forgot Ryan was getting one of these.” He pulled back the curtain on the empty pod. “These are so cool!”

“And why-”

“You _have_ to do this with me,” he interrupted, the level of her enthusiasm clearly nowhere near his. “Ryan and Jenny’ll love it.”

Kate shifted her weight to one leg, her hands on her hips. “Castle, I’m not really-”

With one hand on the curtain, he reached out his other for hers. “Kate, come on.”

He used her first name. That wasn’t even approaching fair.

“You look beautiful. I look handsome. There’s dancing and love and cake. Do this with me, please.”

His words, his eyes, dripped with sincerity and exhilaration. She hated that she was so powerless against it. “Fine, Castle,” she huffed, more at her own lack of will than at his charming insistence. “Let’s just get this over with.”

He pulled her inside with a near squeal. “You’ll love it, I promise. A few more glasses of champagne and you’ll be dragging me back into this thing, you’ll see.”

“Not likely,” she mumbled under her breath as she sat down next to him on the too-small bench, her hip glued to his.

He leaned forward and read the brief note of instruction, his hand unknowingly at rest on her bare knee for balance. “Okay, once I press the button, it’s going to take four shots with a pause between each so we can change our positions or make different faces or whatever we want.”

Kate turned to him as he settled back against the wall. “So, if I want to strangle you, say during shot three, I need to remember to somehow get the photo evidence I leave behind. Got it.”

“And the cop becomes the perp. Funny. Just get that gorgeous smile and a thank you ready, Detective. Here we go.”

Castle pressed the button and the system counted them down from five seconds. They both smiled for the first shot, though Kate was certain she’d blinked which threw off shot two, an intended goofball expression of some kind. They turned to each other for shot three, though not planned, like some unspoken agreement, and she playfully encircled his neck with her hands as she’d intimated she wanted to do, his mouth in the shape of an ‘O’ of surprise.

Castle saw fun in that one, his eyes on hers, though she’d practically sworn it wouldn’t be so. It was that light she carried with her. He recognized it instantly, even in the few brief seconds he had. She let him see it - in that tiny booth, hidden away from everyone, just the two of them.

He didn’t even know it happened until he heard the flash of shot four and it jolted him back into himself. His fingers were at her jaw, his thumbs at her cheeks, the tip of his nose brushing hers as his eyes slowly opened. It was just a few seconds of time, but he could feel the tingle in his lips, the flutter in his heart. He’d kissed her. He’d kissed her in the photo booth at their friends’ wedding. Crap.

Kate brought her hands up and gently pulled his down. He had no idea what she was thinking. He couldn’t read her at all in the dizzying fog of what had obviously happened. “Kate.” She stood without a sound and reached for the velvet curtain. “Kate, I’m sorry. I-”

She disappeared from sight as the curtain dropped behind her. He mouthed a silent expletive and collected himself as best he could, what awaited him, he didn’t know. She stood there with her back to the booth as he exited, not a good sign but a divine view, which he chastised himself for even thinking in the shadow of the previous moment.

“Restroom’s this way, Castle.”

On she walked and he followed, lagging behind because he thought he deserved to. He knew he wasn’t thinking, but _what the hell was he thinking_? He ruined it. It was her idea to spend this joyous time together, to be each other’s plus-one, and he ruined it with his impulsive, non-thinking brain.

The two restroom entrances down the hall were next to each other and they each grabbed a handle. “Hey, Castle,” she said as he took a step inside, “don’t be too long in there. We, uh - I think we need to try that thing again. I think I blinked in the first shot. Ryan and Jenny deserve better than that, don’t you think?”

He couldn’t - she - but - “No, yeah, I think you’re right. We should definitely try it again. For Ryan and Jenny.”

Kate pushed the door open and disappeared inside, another smile on her face that Castle couldn’t see.

“For Ryan and Jenny,” he whispered, before wetting his lips.


End file.
